Saving Face
by EighteenSeconds
Summary: When former Attitude Era diva Alexis Knight first returned to the WWE as Teddy Long's assistant Sheamus didn't take to her very well; he didn't treat her too kindly to say the least. But when she gets herself into a risky situation with an angry Mark Henry, Sheamus is the first to help her out. Sheamus/OC


_**A/N: I am still continuing 'Won't Get Fooled Again', the idea for this story just came into my head at work so I decided to go with it. This will be my 'Kayfabe' story I guess. Enjoy :) xx (My OC's theme is 'Queen Bitch' by David Bowie.)  
**_

* * *

_**Chapter 1.**_

_**July 29**__**th**__** 2011**_

_**SmackDown – Philadelphia**_

"Who the hell is that?" Alexis Knight almost screamed as she watched the man announced as 185 pound Bobby Howard walk down the ramp, stretching his arms as he readied himself to face the much larger Mark Henry. "Who the _hell _is that?" She repeated.

"I-I don't know." Teddy Long panicked as he watched the monitor backstage. "Zack said he would find someone." He spoke of Zack Ryder. "I thought he had someone serious in mind, I didn't think…"

"Well, Zack's a real comedian, isn't he?" Alexis shook her head. "This has gotta be a joke." Somehow she doubted her own words.

Shaking in his wrestling boots, Bobby spun around and ambled back up the ramp, only to have Zack come out with some motivating words.

"Come on bro," Zack tried to comfort the scared rookie, "you're in great shape. Let's go, you got this."

"Let the poor kid go Zack." Alexis whispered as though Zack could hear her. "He's gonna get killed out there."

Bobby took in the words of encouragement and made his way back down the ramp with Zack by his side, patting him on the back.

The camera turned to Mark Henry for a moment to capture his reaction; he looked livid, he probably thought this was a joke. He obviously didn't have a sense of humour.

"You can be broski of the week." Zack patted Bobby on the back before he climbed up the ring. "Yeah, let's go broski!"

Alexis cupped her hand over her mouth as Mark paced towards the smaller man, getting as close as he could without touching him. She could see the poor man gulp in fear and she swore she could see tears stinging his eyes.

Suddenly, Mark grabbed Bobby by the neck, both hands wrapping tightly around his scrawny neck and the young man shook, struggling to break free. He pulled him up over his head and slammed him onto the mat, though he didn't drop the challenger as hard as he could have.

"It's like watching a car crash." Alexis cringed as Mark kicked Bobby in the ribs causing him to cough in pain. She didn't want to watch but she couldn't look away.

"I need to go get some help." Teddy stammered, leaving Alexis' side.

Alexis heard what he said but kept her attention focused on the screen as Mark pulled Bobby into a Powerslam, his back crashing onto the mat.

"Just end it Mark." Alexis grunted as he picked Bobby up by the neck again and hit him with 'The World's Strongest Slam'. It was like he was playing with a ragdoll.

Mark held him up once more and slammed Bobby into his knee, the poor kid crying in pain. The world's strongest man then covered the rookie for a three count, letting Alexis breathe a sigh of relief that it was finally over.

"Here's your winner," Tony Chimel announced, "the world's strongest man, Mark Henry!"

"Paramedics are waiting." Teddy huffed as he stood back at his assistant's side. "I couldn't find anyone else."

"What?" Alexis furrowed her eyebrows.

"No one wants to face Mark." Teddy explained. "He's gonna be furious." He swallowed just as Mark dragged the kid to the corner of the ring and left him to grab a steel chair.

"Shit." Alexis hissed as Mark paused to observe the chair, before nodding and walking back towards the ropes.

Bobby was gasping for air and pleading for help as Mark opened the chair and placed it over his left leg.

Teddy turned to leave when Alexis grabbed his forearm. "Wait Teddy!" She insisted and brought her hand down to smooth her red pencil skirt. "I'll go."

Just as Teddy opened his mouth to speak words of protest Alexis left the room and made her way towards the curtain and grabbed a microphone.

'_She's so swishy in her satin and tat_

_In her frock coat_

_And bipperty-bopperty hat_

_Oh God, I could do better than that'_

Her theme song played to a cheering crowd and Alexis grew nervous as she staggered in her five inch Louboutins down the ramp.

"Mark," She tried her best to remain calm as she duck between the ropes, "Mark, that's enough!" She ordered.

Alexis could normally hold her own against the superstars of the WWE, she would usually banter back and forth with them, sometimes even hit them, but she knew that this wasn't the man to do that with. Most of the superstars wouldn't lay their hands on her, but in the back of her mind Alexis had a feeling Mark might not have such self-control, especially in his current state of mind.

Mark kept his gaze on Alexis, the expression on his face hard to read.

"Mark," Alexis held her hand up defensively as he took a step closer, "Teddy's trying to find you someone. You just have to be patient."

"Patient!" Mark snapped causing Alexis to startle. "I've been patient!" He pointed his large finger at her. "I asked Teddy to bring somebody I can compete with!"

Alexis inadvertently rolled her eyes. "Nobody wants to face you, Mark!" She started to lose her temper.

"_Get me _some competition!" Mark yelled some more and pointed his sausage-like finger towards Bobby, half-unconscious under the turnbuckle. "This is the trash you bring me!"

"Teddy thought…" Alexis tried to explain before being interrupted.

"Teddy thought, huh?" Mark barked and got closer towards the much smaller woman. "He thought this trash could compete against me! Find me someone princess!"

"Listen Mark," Alexis took a deep breath, "we've got one lawsuit pending, if you keep doing this, it's gonna get worse. We'll get you somebody, please…"

'_It's a shame for they, lost their head_

_A careless man who could wind up dead_

_You wear your sin like it's some kind of prize_

_Too many lies, too many lies'_

Alexis jerked her head towards the stage where former WWE Champion Sheamus stood, a wry grin appearing on his face as the crowd roared. She didn't know whether to keep her eyes on him or on the large angry man standing four feet away from her.

After entering the ring, Sheamus gestured towards Alexis for the microphone, giving her a smile and a nod as she complied and handed it to him. The meaning behind the smile remained somewhat unclear to her when she thought of their past interactions.

"Thanks Lexi!" Alexis was taken aback at Sheamus using her nickname and the unusually light tone in his voice as he said it.

He faced Mark and spoke again. "Lexi! If you or Teddy are looking for a fella to fight 'im, Ah'll fight 'im." He declared to applause from the audience.

"Yeah!" Even Mark approved. "Right here!" He boomed, slamming his palms down on the mat.

"After all," Sheamus continued, "he's just big. An' as you said Mark, bigger isn't better." He paused and turned to face the crowd.

"Y'know, this reminds me of an old Irish story, about a high king of Ireland, a man named Brian Boru." Sheamus started one of his famous Irish stories. "Now, legend has it Brian had an illegitimate son, an' one day an angry fairy came along, tapped that bastard on the shoulder and turned 'im into one, _big, great, enormous 425 pound bag of crap_. " He pointed to an unimpressed Mark and gave him a cheeky grin.

Alexis couldn't help but smile in amusement at Sheamus' story as she stood with her arms crossed, not knowing whether to leave the ring. The smile vanished when Mark glared back at her and pointed.

"I asked Teddy to bring me somebody I can compete with." He demanded as she shrugged and bit her tongue. She was growing impatient with this man.

Out of the blue the crowd started to chant Sheamus' name, hoping for a fight, and Mark toddled towards him until he stood about an inch away.

"The problem is you talk too much!" Mark explained.

"Oh really?" Sheamus smirked as he spoke in a low register.

"Yeah," Mark nodded, "you talk too much!" He belted before abruptly being slapped hard across the face by Sheamus.

Alexis' eyes widened. Her legs felt glued to the floor when Sheamus lightly touched her arm, causing her to jump, before he quickly escorted her out of the ring, out of harms way.

Alexis made it out of the ring just in time for Mark to turn around and lunge towards Sheamus.

"You son of a…" Mark growled as he stormed towards the Irishman, who swiftly duck and pulled down the top rope, causing Mark to topple over and fall to the ground.

Alexis stood behind the steel steps as she watched an enraged and embarrassed Mark heave himself back up onto the ring, instantly jumping back down when Sheamus swung the steel chair over the rope.

"Come on fella!" Threatened Sheamus. "You want a piece of me?"

"Put the chair down!" Mark yelled.

"I'm right here!" Sheamus belted back, grasping onto the chair.

Mark walked over towards the steel steps and grabbed the top two steps. Alexis' jaw dropped as he threw the stairs with ease at the ropes.

"I'm right here fella." Sheamus repeated and waved his hand, beckoning for Mark. "You want it? Come on, let's go, fella!"

Mark risked entering the ring again when Sheamus smacked the chair on the ground just in front of him, causing Mark to slide back out.

"Come on fella." Sheamus held his arms out challengingly when Mark froze and shook his head, waving his hands dismissively before leaving causing the crowd to jeer.

"What's going on?" Sheamus smirked as Mark left. He then opened the steel chair and sat down in the middle of the ring, crossing his arms tightly over his chest as a cheeky grin remained on his face.

* * *

Alexis paid no attention to the dirty looks she received from David Otunga and Michael McGuillicutty as they prepared for their match. She had her mind focused on Zack Ryder.

"Have you guys seen Zack?" She asked the Tag Team Champions who simultaneously shook their heads.

Rolling her eyes, Alexis moved on down the hall before Michael could use one of his lame pick-up lines.

Almost getting lost, as she usually did, through the maze of an arena, Alexis found the men's locker room and knocked, knowing never to walk straight in. She felt heat rush to her cheeks when Randy Orton answered, wearing just a towel. He eyed her up and down as he leaned against the doorway.

She kept at eye level and cleared her throat. "Hi, Randy." She greeted the former World Heavyweight Champion casually. "Have you seen Zack?"

"He's in here." Randy grunted. "Zack!" He called out and disappeared back into the locker room.

"'Sup Lexi!" An oblivious Zack appeared in the doorway.

"Get out!" Alexis grabbed Zack by his shirt and yanked him out into the hallway.

"What's the matter with you?" Zack whined, smoothing out the creases in his shirt.

"Don't _ever_ do that again." Alexis hissed, pointing her finger straight at his nose.

"Do what?" Zack shrugged causing Alexis to groan and rub her eyes. She couldn't believe he was being so ignorant.

"Don't ever lead a 185 pound man into the ring with Mark Henry." She ordered through gritted teeth. "Do you know how much trouble you could've gotten Teddy into? You're lucky if that kid doesn't threaten to sue when he wakes up."

"What's the problem? Mark said he wanted a new opponent, so I got him one."

"You don't just _get_ an angry 425 pound man a malnourished rookie." Alexis rubbed her temples. "You could have at least found someone who weighed over 200 pounds."

"Come on," Zack chimed, "I was just doing Teddy a favour. Bobby was just nervous…" He stopped abruptly when Alexis held her hand up.

"Just don't." She mumbled. "Next time you want to help Teddy, get him a cup of coffee." She hissed before turning and crashing into someone's chest.

"Sorry." She rubbed her neck, slowly looking up into the blue eyes of Sheamus. "Hello," was all she could manage to say as she stepped back.

Sheamus nodded and gave her what seemed to be a genuine smile before stepping into the locker room. In the half a year that she had known Sheamus this was perhaps the most he had ever smiled at her.

Ignoring the sensation in her stomach, a bewildered Alexis strolled through the backstage of the arena to find Teddy, who was in his office.

"Hi Teddy." Alexis greeted. "How's Bobby?" She inquired the moment she stepped foot in the door.

"He's okay." Teddy answered. "I think the shock knocked him out more than anything else." He paused. "You really shouldn't have gone out there y'know, you may be tough in your own right but Mark is a different story."

"I'm fine." Alexis rolled her eyes. "But next time, don't let Zack make a decision for you." She asserted.

"Duly noted." Teddy agreed.

Alexis chewed her nails, deep in thought. "Hey, what about this Sheamus situation?" She enquired. "Are we gonna put him in a match with Mark?"

"I guess so." Teddy stammered, thinking as hard as Alexis was. "Do you know where Sheamus is?"

"Yeah," Alexis nodded, "I just saw him go into the men's locker room."

"Can you go tell Sheamus? It's gonna be him verses Mark Henry at SummerSlam." Teddy proclaimed. "At least then he'll have time to prepare, unlike Mark's former opponents."

"Right." Alexis went to leave but stood back in the same spot. "Um… who's gonna tell Mark?" She winced.

"We'll get to that later." Teddy retorted. "Also, let Sheamus know he's facing The Great Khali next Friday."

"The Great Khali?" Alexis' voice pitched higher and Teddy nodded. "Great." She didn't know how she was going to tell Sheamus that bit of information.

* * *

The locker room was finally empty as Sheamus sat on a bench and rested the back of his head against the locker, gathering his thoughts.

He didn't know what had come over him, why he'd decided to stand up to Mark Henry. He knew he had gotten fed up over the weeks of seeing Mark pushing people around, bullying other superstars.

Then, moments ago, he watched on the monitor as Mark stepped closer to Alexis, who very well could have been his next victim. He wondered if Mark would stoop that low. Alexis may have been a former wrestler, and she certainly wasn't the damsel in distress type, but Mark was something else, even fully-grown men had struggled against him.

His thoughts travelled to Alexis. He didn't know what it was about her. He was very cynical around her, to put it lightly, when she became Teddy's assistant a couple of months ago. He thought she'd think she was better than everyone else and, due to the respect she held within the locker room, that no one could touch her, no matter what she said or did.

But that wasn't the case, as he'd come to realise. She'd worked very hard, not only did she help Teddy, but she made sure to help not just the superstars and divas but also the staff who helped with the set up of the shows such as the camera crew and the caterers.

Sheamus found himself starting to respect Alexis as much as the other guys and girls did, he respected the fact that she didn't get intimidated easily and she didn't allow herself to be pushed around by the more hostile wrestlers, even the larger ones. Although she wasn't exactly unfamiliar with the aggressive types, she did date Stone Cold Steve Austin once upon a time.

Seeing her stand her ground against Mark, however ill advised it was, had made his respect for her grow even more. He was starting to see why Teddy hired her over anyone else.

Unsure exactly why, he wanted to make up for the way he had treated her in the past. Though he didn't know if he was willing to admit he was in the wrong just yet.

He was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts when a loud knock sounded at the door. Not wanting to get up, Sheamus closed his eyes and sat quietly, hoping that whoever was behind the door would go away.

"Sheamus?" The familiar feminine voice called out and Sheamus opened his eyes, jolting his head forward when he saw that Alexis had entered the room.

"What are you doing in here?" Sheamus grunted, silently cursing himself for sounding ruder than intended.

"Sorry," Alexis apologised, he wished she'd stop doing that, "is this a bad time?"

Sheamus shook his head and let her talk.

"Uh, Teddy's placed you in a match against Mark at SummerSlam." She announced triggering a smirk from Sheamus as he sat straight and got a better look at her.

"That's exactly what Ah' wanted to hear." He beamed at the news, taking in the sight of her as her full lips eased into a sincere smile. It was then that realisation seemed to finally kick in. She was gorgeous.

Of course she was though, when she first started in the WWE the fans had her rivalled against Sable in the looks department. Although, unlike Sable, Alexis was more of a natural beauty, no airbags attached to her chest, no Botox, no fake tan covering her fair skin, no bleach blonde hair dye.

She walked towards the lockers and swept her long chestnut brown hair over her shoulder before picking up dirty towels that had been sprawled on the ground.

"Bet Teddy was surprised Ah went out there huh?" Sheamus assumed as he watched her unnecessarily cleaning the locker room.

Alexis halted and looked at Sheamus, brows knitted in confusion as she folded a wet towel over her left forearm, being sure to keep it away from her black chiffon top. "What?" She muttered, her mouth hung open as she stared at Sheamus.

"Huh?" Sheamus raised his eyebrows, not understanding her confusion.

"Wait, what?" Alexis reiterated with the same expression on her face. "You mean… Teddy didn't ask you to face Mark?" She interrogated as she placed the towels into a laundry basket.

Sheamus pursed his lips and shook his head.

"Then… why did you come out there?" Alexis questioned some more.

"Ah don't know exactly." He drawled as Alexis came closer. "Ah guess Ah was just sick of seeing the pathetic bully pushing people around." He rubbed his chin and spotted the look Alexis had on her face telling him she wanted to say something.

"Ah know," he held his hands up, reading her expression loud and clear, "Ah'm the last guy who should be talkin' about pushing people around, right?"

"I admit," Alexis huffed and walked closer, "I was going to say that." She said truthfully, a guilty look painted over her face.

"Oi," Sheamus smiled and pointed at her, "we may have gotten off on the wrong foot," to put it lightly, "but Ah would never hit yah. No matter how much yeh annoy me." He said playfully and a grin reached Alexis' eyes.

"Don't think I won't hit you though." Alexis teased as she went back to picking up towels.

Sheamus chuckled for a moment then went back to being serious. "Ah don't think it was smart for yeh to 'ave gone out there." He insisted as he pushed himself off the bench and stretched. "Mark holds grudges from the smallest of aggravations."

"I realised that." Alexis let out a small dry laugh. "I tend to act before thinking." She chuckled as she picked up some dirty towels left on the bench near Sheamus.

'I can relate to that.' Sheamus thought to himself.

"Yeh may be tough," Sheamus started as he picked up the barrel bag by the bench and placed it where he was sitting, "but yeh should learn who to pick yer battles with."

"I guess so." Alexis placed the towels in the laundry basket before remembering. "Oh, um…" She paused and bit her lip. "You're gonna be facing Great Khali next week."

Sheamus' head jerked up from his bag, "Great Khali?" He repeated and Alexis gave him a guilty look. He let out a sigh and said, "whatever it takes to prepare meself."

He turned his back towards Alexis for a moment as he looked in his bag for some clothes to change into. "Ah need to get changed out of these trunks…" he stopped speaking when he turned to see that Alexis' eyes were facing downwards towards his legs, or the area near his legs, before they quickly shot back up at eye level.

"Uh," A faint blush crept to her cheeks as Alexis nodded understandably. "Okay, I'm just leaving." She stammered as she made her way to the door with an unreadable look on her face.

Sheamus chuckled to himself as he pulled his clothes out.

"Oh," Alexis came back into view and Sheamus looked at her in confusion, "thank you, by the way." She gave him a heartfelt smile, but left before Sheamus could ask what she was thanking him for.

Sheamus laughed again and shook his head. 'I'll never understand that woman.'


End file.
